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Erika Piepenbrink * 1921

Wilstorfer Straße 45 (Harburg, Harburg)

HIER WOHNTE
ERIKA PIEPENBRINK
JG. 1921
EINGEWIESEN 1942
HEILANSTALT LANGENHORN
"VERLEGT" 14.7.1943
HEILANSTALT HADAMAR
ERMORDET 24.8.1944

further stumbling stones in Wilstorfer Straße 45:
Bernhard Schreiber

Erika Piepenbrink, born on 1 Sept. 1921 in Harburg, admitted to the Langenhorn "sanatorium and nursing home” (Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Langenhorn) on 23 Mar. 1942, ‘transferred’ to the Hadamar "state sanatorium” (Landesheilanstalt Hadamar) on 14 July 1943, murdered there on 24 Aug. 1944.

Harburg District, Wilstorfer Strasse 45 (formerly Müllerstrasse 3)

Erika Piepenbrink was born in Harburg on 1 Sept. 1921. She lived with her parents August and Dora and seven siblings at Müllerstrasse 3. After leaving school, she worked as a domestic servant and as a laborer in various companies from Nov. 1936 until the end of Jan. 1942. Due to her conspicuous behavior, she repeatedly lost her job after very short periods.

On 7 Oct. 1937 – at the age of 16 – she was forcibly sterilized in the Harburg Hospital.

Starting on 31 Jan. 1942, Erika Piepenbrink lived in the Oberaltenallee care home (Versorgungsheim Oberaltenallee). From there, she was transferred to the Langenhorn "sanatorium and nursing home” on 23 Mar. 1942, with the diagnosis of "debility” ("Schwachsinn”). Upon request, the parents were informed that their daughter’s condition was unchanged and that a stay of one year was to be expected.

As early as Aug. 1942, however, the social administration began pushing to incapacitate the patient. The parents were strongly advised not to take on "any obligations regarding Erika.” A Christmas leave requested by the parents was refused because of "hereditary disease.” On 9 Mar. 1943, the attending physician also supported incapacitation of the "uncritical, asocial patient.”

On 14 July 1943, Erika Piepenbrink was ‘transferred’ to the Hadamar "state sanatorium.” There, too, the parents inquired about the condition of their sick daughter. On 4 Jan. 1944, staff replied to the mother "that Erika does not belong outside in the present time of total war effort” and that "physically she is well.”

Between Jan. 1941 and Mar. 1945, approximately 14,500 people with disabilities or mental illness were murdered at the Hadamar "euthanasia” killing center. Between Jan. and Sept. 1941, about 10,000 patients died in the gas chamber. After the gas chamber had been dismantled, the murders were continued by doctors and nurses starting in Aug. 1942. About 4,500 patients died from lethal injections, failure to treat illnesses, or starvation.

Entry in Erika Piepenbrink’s medical record on 23 Aug. [19]44: "Ill with pneumonia. High fever, heart failure.”

Erika Piepenbrink died one day later on 24 Aug. 1944.

Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: May 2021
© Margrit und Helmut Rüth

Quellen: StaHH 352-8/7 Abl. 1/1995 Nr. 29644, Adressbuch Harburg 1937; Hamburger Gedenkbuch Euthanasie. Die Toten 1939-1945 (Jenner/Wunder), Hamburg 2019, S. 428, Gedenkstätte Hadamar, schriftl. Auskunft v. 27.7.2020.